I purchased these lens caps cheap from the most popular online auction site and have regretted it ever since. They don’t fit properly and it is a pain fiddling with them at the end of a shoot.

So if you are happy to pay less for the “fake” so that you can save a bit of money then be my guest. Me? I’m going to replace these with the real thing. 

I’ve just downloaded and installed the FilmConvert plugin for Adobe Photoshop as I wanted to see if this add on would be interesting to use. 

Paying for the full version I would expect it to be simple to activate but every time I hit the button it is giving me the dreaded Apple beach ball. 

So if you want to know if I think it is just a version of Instagram filters for full size images you will have to wait until their support get back to me and I can use this properly.

5 June 2016 So I managed to get it to work now. The screen I needed was hidden behind the plugin interface, so all I needed to do was to move it to one side and the activation screen was there.

The picture on the left is straight out of the camera and the picture on the right is the one with FilmConvert applied.

Now you could argue if the plugin is worth the money if with a bit of tinkering in Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom you can get the same result. I have to mention at this point that the original was shot as a JPEG and if I had shot in raw I may have seen a bigger difference.

The reason why I don’t shoot in raw but prefer to shoot in JPEG is that it forces me to get it right in camera rather than think oh I can fix that later. If the JPEG is no good I have to ask myself why is it no good? What can I do next time to solve the problem while on set so that it does not happen again.

I do understand why people shoot in raw. Like all good photographic tools there is a time and place for each one. And this article highlights that JPEG v raw debate (which tanks to Twitter was highlighted to me).

Anyway, the plugin is useful for a quick change to the feel of an image so may well come in handy in the future. 

I saw this Nikkor 58mm f1.4 AF-S G lens being sold used at a really cheap price and thought it would be a shame to pass on it. 

No time to test it yet but from first impressions it is really light in weight for a lens that is big in size. From what I can tell the previous owner did not exactly abuse it but it does have the feel of it being well used. So even though it may not be made from tank like materials it does stand up to it being used.

Once I get a chance to use it I will of course report back.

27 July 2016 Now that I’ve had the chance to properly use this lens I’m pretty impressed with how good it is.

The auto focus is good. Nice and fast together with accuracy. I like the focal length plus the images from it.

It is the lens that is now attached to the camera most of the time. Sorry 85mm f1.4 you will just have to be patient just like the other lenses.

Just been playing around with WordPress 4.5 and the theme Twenty Sixteen and it doesn’t look too bad now. Not sure if they did something since I last played with it but I’m going to start using that theme now.

The other thing is that Twenty Sixteen is better on mobile devices than the previous version.

I saw this for sale at London Camera Exchange and couldn’t help myself from buying it. It may not be as fast as the f1.4 lenses I own but the party trick is the Defocus ring.

Not really had a chance to properly play with it but it looks good to me from the first test shot.

24 April 2016 Had a proper test of the lens today and I think that some people have misunderstood what it is all about. It really is a specialist portrait lens which I wouldn’t really advise to use in other circumstances. You can use it for other situations but you would be making life difficult for yourself.

The reason this lens is a specialist portrait lens is the ability for it do the petroleum jelly on the lens filter trick without getting your gear all mucky. And the reason why this is an old lens which may not get updated is that this style of image when out with the shoulder pads in the 1980s.

Photoshop and Lightroom have pretty much done away with the softening effect this lens does manually. Besides today it is all about sharpness and dynamic range.

Picture courtesy Fujifilm

As you may know I am the owner of the Fujifilm X-E1 and it is a great little camera. When I was looking at purchasing the X-E1 I did consider the X-Pro1 as an option but found it a little bit large for a compact camera. With the X-Pro2 now out, is it time to either upgrade to this or the X-E2S.

I never thought about replacing the X-E1 with the X-E2 as there was never enough difference for me to make it worth while and on the face of it the X-E2S is no different. The new spec sheet does not blow me away.

It is a different story with the X-Pro2. With a 20 megapixel count it was worth having a look. But at about £1300 I’m not sure if I would rather spend my money on the Profoto B1.

I already have the Nikkor 28-70mm f2.8 AF-S in my camera bag but now that Nikon have brought out the Nikkor 24–70mm f2.8E AF-S ED VR I am seriously considering an upgrade.

Using the Canon gear in my day job with the Image Stabilisation convinced me that getting any electronic help to steady an image is a big bonus. So if I can on the Nikon range I will always try to go for the widest aperture with Vibration Reduction.

The question now is do I give up the 28-70 if I get the new 24-70 or do I just keep the older lens as a back up. After all this the range I think gets the most use and would be a nightmare if I only had one of these lenses and it had to go in for repair.